Robert Valentin
Age: 29Record: 10-3Nickname: “Robzilla”Division: MiddleweightOpponent: Ryan LoderPath to remaining: First-round TKO of Giannis Bachar, first-round submission of Paddy McCorry
On attending to the UFC
Rob Valentin
“To be trustworthy, I didn’t think about something. I used to be simply trying ahead for the sensation and the sensation is indescribable. It looks like I’m in the suitable place. I wouldn’t name it stress. I’d say it’s extra pleasure. I really like the cameras. I really like the present. I really like the lights, and the larger the stage will get, the extra excited I get to go in there. I’m so f*cking pumped.”
On his TUF expertise
“I beloved each single day. I wakened every single day with a smile on my face. It was the right atmosphere for me. I really feel like my entire life ready me to be in (‘The Final Fighter’) home and to carry out to my greatest. I simply had this sense every single day that I’m a person on a mission. I don’t need to lie: Everybody has doubts earlier than the fights and stuff. I had these doubts. However I’d at all times – for instance, within the morning, I am going for my run and I’d inform me nothing’s going to cease you,’ to ‘OK, you’re going to vary your life at the moment. That is your time.’ And I’d say this for 5 weeks straight, every single day to myself, and I believe it manifested. So, yeah – I didn’t need to depart. I advised the producers it’s not about the home. You don’t care about something. You get meals, you get each every thing you want and also you simply practice, battle and yeah, I miss it. I miss it.”
On opponent Ryan Loder
Ryan Loder
“I’m actually excited to get in there with Ryan. I pictured that we’d face one another within the remaining as a result of he’s a really disciplined athlete. He’s a really sturdy man, and I believe we have been each perhaps favorites. I believe I’m a horrible matchup for him, and I’m the man that may make this battle entertaining, and I believe I don’t need to take something away from him as a result of he has methods to win fights. However his fashion just isn’t very fan pleasing, and I even have the talents to make this a fan-pleasing battle. I’m simply trying ahead for each of us getting within there anticipating the perfect form of the opponent and placing all of it on the road. I need to have an extended battle. I don’t need to have a first-round end. I need to give the folks what they want, they usually want extra air time of ‘Robzilla’ within the cage as a result of the final efficiency was too quick. I need to give them extra. I wouldn’t sit right here. I actually would nonetheless be house if there’s not an opportunity to make somebody bleed. That’s why I took the flight to Vegas: I don’t go to jail for splitting somebody’s cranium. That’s why I’m right here, and that can by no means change.”
On a current mushroom incident
“2023, I’ve a fairly necessary battle arising. I traveled from Thailand to Switzerland like three weeks earlier than, and in my headspace I used to be not proper as a result of I used to be battling staph infections. I had a really unhealthy relationship at the moment. So I am going to the mountains. And I take a sh*t-ton of mushrooms. I’m alone within the forest, within the mountains, at the hours of darkness, and I spent the night time there. … After a few hours, the tree began bending. The timber have been bending and the gods confirmed up they usually actually advised me, ‘You’re the man. We want you to convey us blood violence. We need to have one thing to cheer for and also you’ve received to make your ancestors and the outdated gods proud.’
“This night time, I felt so sturdy. I keep in mind I took my shirt off. I began shadow boxing within the forest and I felt like my ft would develop roots into the soil. Nature gave me a lot energy and energy going into battle week after that. I’d have these voices in my head on a regular basis … That is my supply of energy and that’s why I at all times, earlier than fights, I search for a reference to nature and to connect with house soil if potential. But when not, even like simply connect with nature as a result of that’s the place I I achieve a lot energy from. That’s the entire base of Nordic paganism is the connection of man and nature. That’s mainly the story of my journey within the mountains.”
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